Pregnant Woman's Response to Being Asked What Sex Baby Is Sparks Fury

An expectant mom has sparked a fiery debate online after reacting angrily to a former colleague asking what sex her baby will be.

When it comes to the sex of a baby, Americans still prefer having a boy over a girl—but only just. In a 2018 Gallup Poll, 36 percent of Americans said they would want a boy compared with 28 percent who said they would rather have a girl. More tellingly perhaps, 36 percent said it wouldn't matter or they didn't have an opinion.

The preference for boys is largely driven by men, with 55 percent of males quizzed as part of the study saying they would like a son, while just 18 percent wanted a daughter. By contrast, 31 percent of women wanted a girl, and 30 percent said they would like a boy.

Still, it would appear that the issue of a baby's sex is still a bone of contention to some would-be mothers. That was most recently highlighted in a post shared to Mumsnet by Bobby80, which detailed a woman's encounter with an ex-co-worker who is seven months pregnant.

During a chance encounter in which the expectant mom spoke at length about her pregnancy, her former colleague said she decided to ask "if she knew what she was having?"

The pregnant woman snapped at her: "I've always thought that's an odd question, basically asking if my child will have a penis or vagina."

Though the woman said she "apologized" for the remark and insisted she hadn't set out to "offend her," she later wondered whether she had overstepped the mark with her line of questioning.

The response from those on social media was a hard no.

WhatTheFlap thought it was "a completely normal question to ask," with Nekomata surmising that "pregnancy can make people a little weird."

"Some people get offended by nothing at all," TalkingToMyselfAgain wrote. "Asking if she was having a boy or a girl was a perfectly ordinary question to ask."

Rnsaslkih said: "I would have told her it was a culturally normal question that shows interest in her pregnancy" adding: "You shouldn't have apologized.... Just makes her think it's ok to speak to people like this, which it isn't."

CluelessHamster could see things from the pregnant woman's perspective, but also felt her response was rude.

"I did get a bit bored of answering the same questions many times while pregnant and especially during my third pregnancy when everyone and their dog asked if I was hoping for a little girl as I already had two boys," she wrote. "But I never felt the need to be rude about it!"

Cow Palace agreed, writing: "I think it's likely she'd just been asked it fifty times in the space of a day, because everyone thinks it's the nice, polite question to ask of a pregnant woman, and don't allow for the fact that a pregnant woman gets its again and again and AGAIN, and the repetition can be maddening."

SarahSissons wasn't buying that claim though, commenting: "What else are you supposed to ask? How's the morning sickness...oh do tell me about your swollen ankles?"

Newsweek has contacted Bobby80 for comment.